Radiologists can use iTunes to manage personal learning files

iTunes has the ability to manage and organize PDF files just as easy as music files, allowing radiologists to better organize their personal files of articles and images, according to a study in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

The study was conducted by researchers at Renji Hospital and Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China.

“Most published medical papers are available on the internet in a PDF format now,” said Li Jun Qian, MD, lead author of the study. “For radiologists, these electronic papers provide richer information (e.g. various cases, reviews and abundant, valuable images) than conventional textbooks and can be easily found and downloaded for further reading via online databases. However, managing PDF files is troublesome and it is difficult to find software designed for organizing them,” Qian said.

Sorting PDF files in folders on a PC by topic does not solve the issue of how to file multi-subject articles, Qian said. iTunes can address the issue due to its search and sort functions, its ability to remember a user’s favorite articles and its capability to support customized shortcuts for different topics and/or categories, the authors concluded.